How to Get Corgis to Stop Barking

June 5, 2010

By:Heather Vecchioni

With long backs, short legs and an abundance of personality, corgis are a popular breed in the dog world. But one trait you may not know of that this breed is prone to is excessive barking. According to YourPureBredPuppy.com, corgis have a tendency to bark at every new sight and sound they encounter. This can be troubling if you are gone for long hours of the day and have neighbors who do not appreciate constant barking. Therefore, you must train your corgi to stop barking. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which to do so.

Corgi dogs like to bark and have tendencies to take charge.

Show your corgi that you are in control. Your dog will not obey any training methods you employ if it doesn’t think you are the boss. According to the Dog Breed Info Center website, corgis have strong personalities and have tendencies to try to be in charge. Always keep your corgi next to you on walks and do not allow it to walk ahead of you. Walk through doors in front of your corgi and make the dog wait for your permission until it is allowed to eat. Once your corgi learns that you are the pack leader, it will start obeying your commands.

Exercise your corgi. While exercising doesn’t directly train your corgi to stop barking, it does wear off any excess energy your pooch may have. An abundance of energy running through a dog that isn’t let out often results in frustration, which can lead to nuisance barking. The Dog Breed Info Center website states that corgis are extremely active. Therefore, walk, run or swim with your corgi daily to burn off the energy. In addition, an exercised corgi may simply be too tired to bark every time it sees or hears something new.

Ignore your corgi when it barks at an action you are displaying. Corgis love to be involved in all aspects of their owners lives, including barking sometimes at what they doing, whether its vacuuming, exercising or washing dishes. This is often the dog’s way of becoming a part of your activity. If you ignore the corgi, you are showing it that barking means it is left out. Once the corgi stops barking, even if it is just for a few moments, give it a treat as a reward. Doing this shows the corgi that silence is rewarded, while barking is not.

Say a command, such as “stop” or “no bark,” while the corgi is barking, then place a treat in front of its nose, suggests PerfectPaws.com. The dog will likely stop barking as it sniffs the treat. During this time of silence, say “good dog” or “good quiet.” After three seconds of silence, give your corgi the treat. The next time you try this method, lengthen the silence period by five seconds and continue to lengthen the amount of time before you give the treat in every training session. Eventually, take the treat away. Once this step is achieved, your corgi will likely stop barking at everything when you give the command.